Quranic root
مرر
m · r · r
The root centers on two principal orientations: passing onward or through, and the contrary of sweetness, namely bitterness or unpleasantness.
From passing comes the notion of a time or occasion that has elapsed; from bitterness and tightly twisted rope develop extensions involving hardship, strength, firmness, and resistance.
- Maqāyīs · row 4336
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 35
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
مَرَّ
marra
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 10 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To pass, go by or beyond, proceed along or through, or go away.
The construction may describe movement past a place or object, passage over or along something, or proceeding with something; in 7:189 it describes moving about with a light burden.
- Lane · entry 12418
- Mufradāt · row 1358
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:259word 3
“passed”
Quran 7:189word 17
“and continues”
To pass on from something with disregard; to turn away from it without attending to it.
A figurative use in which passing becomes withdrawal or deliberate avoidance, as in passing by vain speech or turning away after relief.
- Mufradāt · row 1358
- Lane · entry 12418
Selected Quran examples
Quran 25:72word 6
“they pass”
Quran 10:12word 15
“he passes on”
أَمَرّ
ʾamarr
- Part of speech
- Adjective · Comparative
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
More bitter; more severe or grievous in its unpleasantness.
A comparative adjective, used in the Quranic expression وَأَمَرُّ to intensify the comparison of bitterness or harshness.
- Lane · entry 12442
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:46word 6
“and more bitter”
مَرّ
marr
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Passing, passage, or proceeding onward.
A verbal noun of مَرَّ, used for the movement or passage of something, including the Quranic description of the mountains passing like clouds.
- Lane · entry 12418
- Mufradāt · row 1358
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:88word 7
“(as the) passing”
مَرَّة
marrah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 20 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A time, occasion, instance, or single occurrence.
Used adverbially or in counting repetitions; the plural مَرَّات denotes times or occasions, while forms such as مَرَّتَيْنِ mean twice.
- Lane · entry 12429
- Mufradāt · row 1358
Selected Quran examples
مِرَّة
mirrah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Strength, robust capacity, and firmness.
In the Quranic expression ذُو مِرَّةٍ, it describes one endowed with great strength and sound bodily capability; the expression is applied to Gabriel.
- Lane · entry 12431
- Mufradāt · row 1358
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:6word 2
“Possessor of soundness”
مُسْتَمِرّ
mustamirr
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Continuing, lasting, or proceeding in a uniform course.
In the Quranic expressions سِحْرٌ مُسْتَمِرٌّ and يَوْمُ نَحْسٍ مُسْتَمِرٍّ, it can describe something ongoing, lasting, or constant in its course.
- Lane · entry 12448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:2word 7
“continuing”
Quran 54:19word 9
“continuous”
Effective or potent in carrying through its effect.
An interpretation of مُسْتَمِرّ applied to the ill-fortune that accomplishes what it is charged or constrained to accomplish.
- Lane · entry 12448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:19word 9
“continuous”
Passing away and ineffectual.
An alternative Quranic interpretation of سِحْرٌ مُسْتَمِرٌّ, emphasizing that the enchantment passes away without lasting effect.
- Lane · entry 12448
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:2word 7
“continuing”
Bitter or harsh.
An alternative interpretation of the Quranic expressions in which persistence or potency is understood figuratively as bitterness or harshness.
- Lane · entry 12448
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:229مَرَّتَانِ ۖ(is) twice
- 2:259مَرَّpassed
- 6:94مَرَّةٍۢtime
- 6:110مَرَّةٍۢtime
- 7:189فَمَرَّتْand continues
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 54 Classical meanings
مَرَّ
To run or flow, of water; to pass along or blow, of wind.
A Classical extension of passing movement to flowing water or moving air.
- Lane · entry 12418
مَرَّ
For a period to pass over someone; for a calamity to befall someone.
A conventional use with a person or object as the affected party.
- Lane · entry 12418
مُرَّ
To be overcome by an attack of bile or gall.
The verb is used of a person whose bile becomes roused.
- Lane · entry 12418
مَرَّرَ
To make something bitter.
Form II has an intensive or causative force relative to becoming bitter.
- Lane · entry 12419
مَارَّ
To pass, go by, or go away with another.
Form III construction expressing passing in association with another party.
- Lane · entry 12420
أَمَرَّ
To make someone or something pass, go away, or pass over or across.
Form IV is causative; it can govern a person or object and can describe making something pass along a bridge or drawing an object across a surface.
- Lane · entry 12421
أَمَرَّ
To recite poetry fluently.
A specialized figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 12421
أَمَرَّ
To twist a rope or thread tightly.
The same twisting image is used figuratively of time or fortune as alternately untwisting and twisting.
- Lane · entry 12421
أَمَرَّ
To struggle or strive with someone, twisting around him or his neck in an attempt to throw him down.
A figurative or physical contest construction; the related reciprocal form is تَمَارَّا.
- Lane · entry 12421
أَمَرَّ
To become bitter; transitively, to make something bitter.
The verb is used both intransitively of food or another thing becoming bitter and transitively in the sense covered by مَرَّرَ.
- Lane · entry 12421
أَمَرَّ
In an idiom, to refrain from saying or doing what is harmful or beneficial.
The expression مَا أَمَرَّ وَمَا أَحْلَى is explained as neither uttering a bitter or sweet saying nor causing harm or benefit.
- Lane · entry 12421
تَمَارَّا
For two people to struggle or strive with one another, each twisting the other’s neck to throw him down.
Reciprocal Form VI usage.
- Lane · entry 12422
اِسْتَمَرَّ
To continue in one uniform course or state.
Classical Form X use of a thing, affair, or process that continues regularly or constantly.
- Lane · entry 12424
اِسْتَمَرَّ
To become tightly twisted.
Used literally of a rope and figuratively of becoming firm or resistant.
- Lane · entry 12424
اِسْتَمَرَّ
To become strong, firm, resistant, or accustomed to something.
A figurative development from a tightly twisted rope; it can describe firmness against an opponent or habituation.
- Lane · entry 12424
اِسْتَمَرَّ
For one’s condition to become sound after being bad or corrupt; to repent and become upright.
A reported figurative use concerning a person’s moral or practical state.
- Lane · entry 12424
اِسْتَمَرَّ
To become bitter, especially of food.
A Form X use synonymous with becoming bitter under أَمَرَّ.
- Lane · entry 12424
مَرْمَرَ
To murmur or grumble; to be angry.
A quadriliteral usage reported as an established meaning, with anger described as its likely primary sense.
- Lane · entry 12425
مَرْمَرَ
To make water pass or flow over the surface of the ground.
A specialized use involving the movement of water across ground.
- Lane · entry 12425
تَمَرْمَرَ
To shake, quiver, or quake; to become smooth like marble; of sand, to move from side to side.
The meanings vary with the subject: body, flesh, marble-like surfaces, or sand.
- Lane · entry 12426
مُرّ
Bitter; unpleasant to the taste.
Also applied figuratively to a life or experience that is harsh or disagreeable.
- Lane · entry 12428
المُرّ
Myrrh, a bitter medicinal substance.
A named medicine used in several traditional preparations.
- Lane · entry 12428
مُرّ
In a figurative expression, afflictions or calamities that befall someone.
The phrase مَرَّتْ عَلَيْهِ أَمْزَارٌ uses the bitterness image for hardships.
- Lane · entry 12428
مُرّ
Loathing or aversion of the mind or stomach.
A figurative description of a mind or stomach characterized as bitter, repelled, or disgusted.
- Lane · entry 12428
أَبُو مُرَّةَ
A surname of Iblis, literally associated with bitterness.
A proper-name usage rather than an ordinary adjective.
- Lane · entry 12428
مَرَّةٌ
A time, one occasion, a single act, bout, or temporary occurrence.
Includes adverbial expressions such as once, twice, at once, or repeatedly on different occasions.
- Lane · entry 12429
مِرَّةٌ
The act or occurrence of passing, going by, or going away.
A verbal noun of passing, distinct from the Quranic strength use of the same vocalized form.
- Lane · entry 12431
مِرَّةٌ
A firm twist or single strand of a rope.
The noun can denote a strong twisting or one individual twist in a rope.
- Lane · entry 12431
مِرَّةٌ
Intellect, sound judgment, firmness, or strength of mind.
A figurative extension of firmness; this Classical sense is distinct from the Quranic expression denoting strength.
- Lane · entry 12431
مِرَّةٌ
Bile or gall, one of the bodily humors.
The term can denote the yellow or black bile among the traditional four humors.
- Lane · entry 12431
مُرَارٌ
A bitter or sour tree or herb.
A collective plant name with a singular form in ـة.
- Lane · entry 12432
مَرِيرٌ
A slender, long, strongly twisted rope, or a single strand of rope.
The term can describe a rope made of several strands or a strongly twisted individual strand.
- Lane · entry 12433
مَرِيرٌ
Strong or powerfully made.
A figurative adjectival use derived from the firmness of a tightly twisted rope.
- Lane · entry 12433
مَرِيرٌ
Resolution, determination, or strength of mind.
A figurative use for firmness of character or purpose.
- Lane · entry 12433
مَرَارَةٌ
Bitterness.
A noun of quality, also extended figuratively to unpleasantness or aversion.
- Lane · entry 12434
مَرَارَةٌ
Loathing or aversion of the mind or stomach.
A figurative expression for disgust or repugnance.
- Lane · entry 12434
مَرَارَةٌ
The gallbladder, the organ containing bile.
An anatomical noun; the lexical evidence notes exceptions among certain animals.
- Lane · entry 12434
مُرِّىّ
A seasoning or condiment eaten with food to make it savory.
A culinary noun, distinct from the adjective مُرّ meaning bitter.
- Lane · entry 12436
مُرَّانٌ
A tall tree or cane from which spears are made; also a spear made from it.
The word is also associated morphologically with the root مرن.
- Lane · entry 12437
مَرْمَرٌ
Marble or a hard, clear kind of soft white stone.
A stone noun, synonymous with or related to رُخَام.
- Lane · entry 12438
مَرْمَارٌ
Soft and quivering in the flesh; a soft, quivering body.
Applied especially to a body or person whose flesh quivers when rising.
- Lane · entry 12439
أَمَرُّ
More or most tightly twisted.
A comparative or superlative adjective derived from the rope-twisting branch.
- Lane · entry 12442
أَمَرُّ
Firmer or more faithful to a compact or agreement.
A figurative comparison based on firmness of twisting.
- Lane · entry 12442
الأَمَرَّانِ
The two bitter or grievous hardships, such as poverty and decrepitude or disease.
A fixed figurative dual expression for severe adversity.
- Lane · entry 12442
الأَمَرَّانِ
A pair of bitter plants, identified as aloe and mustard.
A conventional plant-name expression.
- Lane · entry 12442
الأَمَرَّانِ
Calamities, evil, or a grievous and distressing experience.
A fixed expression such as لَقِيتُ مِنْهُ الأَمَرَّيْنِ, literally experiencing the two bitter things.
- Lane · entry 12442
مَمَرٌّ
A place of passing or passage.
A place noun, also attested as a verbal noun in related usage.
- Lane · entry 12443
مُمَرّ
A rope, thread, or other thing tightly twisted.
The noun denotes something made firm by twisting.
- Lane · entry 12444
مُمَرّ
Strongly or firmly made, of a man or horse.
A figurative adjectival extension from tightly twisted material.
- Lane · entry 12444
مَمْرُورٌ
Overcome by bile; a person whose bile is roused.
A passive participial adjective describing the condition caused by bile.
- Lane · entry 12446
بَعِيدُ الْمُسْتَمَرِّ
Strong in altercation and not weary of laboring or striving.
A fixed phrase describing persistence and endurance in contention or effort.
- Lane · entry 12447
مُسْتَمِرّ
Constantly obtaining or unvarying, of a custom or practice.
A Classical active-participle use outside the Quranic expressions.
- Lane · entry 12448
مَرّ
A spade or digging implement; also its handle.
A supplemental technical noun for a tool used in cultivated soil or mud.
- Lane · entry 5660
مُرَيْرَاءُ
An anesthetic herb.
A plant name in a supplemental lexical entry.
- Lane · entry 5661